35 Sisters
Object number2017.81.1
Artist
Pittsburgh Modern Quilt Guild
(founded 2012)
Designer
Amanda Hancock
Artist
Nicole Maroon
Date2015-2016
OriginPittsburgh, PA
MediumCotton fabric; Cotton and Polypropylene batting; Ink
Credit LineGift of the Pittsburgh Modern Quilt Guild
DescriptionRectangular cotton fabric art quilt. Quilt is comprised of an underlying grid of 24 pieced rectangles that construct an abstracted image of the Roberto Clemente Bridge (Sixth Street Bridge). Large yellow bridge portal dominates the quilt with smaller yellow bridge portal at bottom center. Background sky is in various shades of turquoise/teal/blue. Foreground road is black, gray, and white. Small red detail to the right of the smaller portal. Most of the fabrics are patterned and some have printed text. Reverse shows intricate machine-quilted customized design of the same two bridge portals, two-lane road in foreground, and sky filled with curvilinear quilting. Narrow edge finish in same colors as quilt. Cotton and polypropylene blend batting. Reverse has black fabric hanging sleeve along top edge.DimensionsHeight x Width x Depth: 88.875 × 69 × 0.25 in. (225.7 × 175.3 × 0.6 cm)MarksReverse has two maker squares in bottom right corner:
Top square has text "A COLLABORATIVE WORK BY: / PITTSBURGH / MODERN QUILT / GUILD";
Bottom square has handwritten text in black ink " "35 Sisters" / Concept by Amanda Hancock / Pieced by members of the / Pittsburgh Modern Quilt Guild / Quilted by Nicole Maroon / Year Completed: 2016."
Historical NotesQuilt entitled “35 Sisters” made by 34 women of the Pittsburgh Modern Quilt Guild, they named it "35 Sisters" because the bridge makes the 35th sister. They began the project in September of 2015 and finished in January of 2016. The quilt depicts the Roberto Clemente Bridge, also known as the Sixth Street Bridge. The Modern Quilt Guild began in Los Angeles in 2009, and the Pittsburgh chapter formed in 2012. They meet monthly to quilt. This quilt is an example of what the Guild would term “modern quilting” in that it uses bold colors, negative space, high contrast and improvisational piecing. This specific quilt was a response to the national guild challenging chapters to create an improvised quilt (not from a pattern) with the colors they selected. They decided to depict one of the iconic Three Sisters bridges in downtown Pittsburgh. The quilt won Best of Show at both the Three Rivers Quilt Show and the North Hills Quilt Show in 2016.
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1922
c. 1930
1949